Few social transformations have attacked social inequalities more thoroughly than the 1959 Cuban revolution. Three decades of crisis and reform have however, affected many of the revolution’s social achievements. Today, Cuban society is marked by rising levels of poverty and inequality, growing unemployment, dwindling social services and continuous outward migration. Moreover, in the context of a changing economy, defined by the declining role of the state and the introduction of market mechanisms, new social stratifications are emerging – and doing so along clearly visible, racial lines. Inequality and race, both dominant themes in pre-revolutionary Cuba and ones that the Revolution fought hard to eliminate, have once again become key, overlapping issues. This panel will discuss the results of a two year long, German Research Council-funded, research project, including a unique, island-wide survey, which examined the role and impact of migration, remittances and citizenship, within the context of the island’s recent economic reforms, on Cuba’s growing racial inequalities. With: Katrin Hansing, Baruch College, CUNY Bert Hoffmann, German Institute of Global and Area Studies Odette Casamayor-Cisneros, University of Connecticut
New York City, NY; NYC